On the Ark.

……

Guigu Xuehui was once hailed as the genius of the Guigu family, most skilled at creating illusions.

She could use her voice, scent, and movements to put her enemies into an "illusion" without their knowledge—a secret technique of the Guigu family, which she wielded most skillfully. This allowed her to easily neutralize the sleeping pills Lin Ye had given her, putting him into a state of illusion where she believed he had been drugged, and then, in turn, drugging him.

In fact, when Guigu Xuehui discovered that Lin Ye had drugged her, she was extremely disappointed.

She thought she had finally found someone interesting before she died, someone who would take her to experience things no one had ever taken her to before. But she didn't realize she had misjudged him; Lin Ye's approach to her was not accidental, but rather a premeditated scheme with no new twists.

So she felt disappointed and angry.

Since you like being near me so much, then go to hell and stay with me forever.

With that thought in mind, Guigu Xuehui raised her scythe.

This will be the second to last person she has ever killed in her life; the last one was herself.

However, just as she was about to swing the scythe and end Lin Ye's life, she saw a fiery red leaf fall onto the black scythe, creating a stark contrast.

"This is... a maple leaf?" Yukie Onigani stared blankly at the maple leaf on the sickle. "But why is it here?"

She didn't know where the maple leaf came from, but it magically captured her entire attention. She forgot what she was supposed to do next, just staring blankly at the leaf, and then slowly reached out, wanting to remove the beautiful leaf from the ominous sickle. However, the moment her fingers touched the maple leaf, all the strength in her body was instantly drained away.

Guigu Xuehui was shocked. She instinctively tried to pull her hand back, but it was too late.

The next second, she lost consciousness, the scythe slipped from her hand, and then she staggered and collapsed next to Lin Ye, falling into a coma.

……

Karan, the sacred mountain.

The deity sitting atop the mountain raised his head, watching the maple leaves above him fall one after another.

"Really," Messiah chuckled softly, "What a troublesome fellow, and the other one too."

Soon, a clear female voice came from behind: "My lord, dinner is ready."

"I do not want to eat."

Eileen came out of the temple and looked at Messiah with a puzzled expression: "Don't you want to eat?"

"Ah."

"Don't you have a good appetite?"

“Yeah.” Messiah pouted. “I’m so jealous.”

Eileen looked completely bewildered: "What?"

"It's nothing." Messiah shook her head, then slowly got up and picked the maple leaf that had fallen on her hair. "Just kidding. Let's eat."

Messiah couldn't help but think as he followed Eileen back to the temple.

If only I had been a little luckier back then.

Don't use too much, just a little is enough.

……

……

Author's Note: 6K chapters completed, still 10 chapters to go. There will be another chapter tonight, and I just checked the monthly ticket rankings and it's already in the top ten. If I can maintain that, I'll reopen the bounty for the next chapter.

Chapter 398 Dream (and some more words)

It seems I did something really stupid.

Lying in the chaos, Lin Ye couldn't help but think.

No, we should remove "seems." He really did something incredibly stupid. What was wrong with him to think of poisoning the person he entrusted with his final moments? Even if he desperately wanted the other person to live, he wouldn't do something like this... Is kindness imposed on someone truly kindness?

If he died in this way... would he still be considered alive?

As time went by, Lin Ye's hazy consciousness gradually cleared up.

He felt his strength return to his body, so he tried to move his limbs and found no problems; his head was still intact on his neck. That meant he was still alive? His opponent hadn't cut off his head? Was he still in the room? Why was it so dark? Were the lights off?

As he was thinking this, he suddenly heard a soft sobbing sound beside him.

He turned around and saw a patch of light in the darkness. There, a little girl with long black hair was huddled in a corner, hugging her knees and crying, seemingly afraid of something. Seeing this, Lin Ye got up from the darkness and instinctively wanted to walk towards the little girl, but then he heard the sound of a door opening behind him.

He turned around, and the darkness vanished in that instant. He was standing in a spacious Japanese-style room, on tatami mats. It seemed to be raining outside; he could hear the patter of the rain. The door opened to a middle-aged woman with black horns on her head, her face filled with anxiety, followed by a man dressed as a doctor.

The two people walked right past Lin Ye, as if they hadn't seen him at all.

Seeing this, Lin Ye understood.

He wasn't in reality, but in a dream.

But... whose dream is this? Is it that girl's? But how is that possible? The girl didn't fall for his trap at all. Not only that, she even tried to kill him. Although it was all his own fault, what's going on now? He couldn't possibly have already been killed and is now in hell, and that crying girl is actually Meng Po (the goddess of forgetfulness in Chinese mythology), right? This is too far-fetched.

"Xuehui, Xuehui, don't be afraid, Mommy has called the doctor." While Lin Ye was thinking, the middle-aged woman hurriedly ran to the girl's side and gently hugged the trembling girl.

Snow painting?

Lin Ye was stunned.

Why does that name sound familiar? Wait, isn't that the girl from the Eastern Kingdom who was suspected of being targeted by the Lupo Clan? Come to think of it, this seems to be the Eastern Kingdom, and the black horn on the middle-aged woman's forehead is exactly the same as Yato's. That's right, they are the Oni Clan from the Eastern Kingdom. But why is he in Onigu Yukie's dream? He clearly…

Lin Ye didn't remain puzzled for long before he figured out the answer.

That girl! The girl wearing the fox demon mask is Guigu Xuehui, absolutely! Although he doesn't know how he entered Guigu Xuehui's dream, this is the only possibility. The girl wearing the fox demon mask is Guigu Xuehui, Guigu Xuehui is the girl wearing the fox demon mask.

Indeed, many things only become clear when you enter a dream.

Thinking this, Lin Ye looked over again. Although he didn't know exactly what was going on, at least he had achieved his goal. As long as he entered Guigu Xuehui's dream and found the root of her problem, he could cure Guigu Xuehui's illness, just like he had cured Nightingale before.

However, Nightingale was willing to cooperate with the treatment back then, but Guigu Xuehui wasn't. He wondered if she would have believed him if he had explained things clearly to her from the beginning. But that's all hindsight now; since he was already here, all he should be considering was the dream before him.

So he walked toward Guigu Xuehui, the little girl who was crying.

At this moment, the doctor brought by the middle-aged woman had finished examining Guigu Xuehui's body. Lin Ye walked over and just happened to hear him speak.

"We still haven't found anything," the doctor said. "Miss Yuki is perfectly healthy; there's nothing wrong with her at all."

"How could there be no problem at all!" The middle-aged woman, presumably Yukie Guigu's mother, said excitedly, "Yukie is woken up by nightmares every night, every single night! How could there be no problem?! Doctor, you need to examine her carefully!"

The doctor shook his head with a wry smile: "Madam, I really can't see any problem. Of course, it could be due to my lack of medical skills. However, I don't have any medicine here that can cure nightmares. At most, I have some sedatives, but these medicines are useless for Miss Yuki, and taking too much can easily harm her health."

"Then think of something!" Xuehui's mother said loudly. "If you can't do it, then let someone else do it. Does our Guigu family lack the money to hire a doctor?!"

"Madam, if I may be so bold, there are no experts in this field in the entire Eastern Kingdom," the doctor said in a low voice. "Moreover, Madam, you should also know that Miss Yukie's condition may not be an illness, but rather a legend..."

"Shut up!" Yukie's mother said hysterically, "'Those who are plagued by nightmares will eventually be ended by the most evil demons,' do you want my daughter to die at the hands of that legendary 'most evil demon'?!"

The doctor immediately lowered his head and dared not speak.

At this moment, Guigu Xuehui slowly stopped crying, gently raised her head, her beautiful eyes filled with confusion, and murmured, "'Extremely Evil Demon'? If I'm killed by the 'Extremely Evil Demon', will I never have nightmares again?"

"No, Yuki, don't think like that!" Yuki's mother hugged Yuki tightly and said in a tearful voice, "Don't think like that, please, Yuki, don't leave your mother, please don't leave your mother."

Guigu Xuehui bit her lip tightly and remained silent, while Lin Ye, who was listening from the side, was already experiencing a storm of emotions.

A truly malevolent ghost?! She's the ghost hunter?!

At this moment, the doctor spoke slowly again: "Madam, I think it would be better for Miss Yuki to go to the West."

"Shut up!" Yuki's mother roared. "I will absolutely not let my daughter go looking for the 'Extremely Evil Demon,' absolutely not!"

“No, madam,” the doctor said softly, “the West has not only ‘extremely evil spirits,’ but also a very real possibility—the only possibility—of curing Miss…”

……

……

Author's note: 8K words offered, still 9 chapters owed. Also, I have a few words to say, which happens to coincide with the end of this volume. I've already seen the controversy surrounding the last chapter. Honestly, when I saw the points of contention, my first thought was the same as Lin Ye's in this chapter: How could I have written such a brainless scene?

I've always been open to admitting my own shortcomings, like in Melantha and here. Frankly, this volume is, in my opinion, very, very mediocre. It completely failed to capture what I wanted to write, which led to a lot of criticism from readers and a drop in sales. I'm aware of all this because my condition this month has been exceptionally poor. I've spent half the month away from home, dealing with all sorts of things, and many times I was writing at three or four in the morning, dragging my groggy head to my hotel bed. That was my most painful time, and it happened to be a crucial period for developing the plot.

Having weathered that period, I've been hoping to write more these past few days. After all, I haven't updated much this month, and everyone's been calling me a "broken-chapter dog" (meaning I only write 2 words a day to slack off, which isn't true; unless I'm on leave, I always manage to write at least 4 words). This made me a bit uncomfortable, so I tried a burst of updates. Then came the plot of the previous chapter. My initial thought was that the protagonist, lacking time, with Guigu Xuehui unwilling to cooperate, and with a significant difference in their psychological maneuvering abilities, had no choice but to forcibly rescue her. However, because I wrote too quickly, those key elements weren't properly developed, making the plot feel abrupt and causing the protagonist's character to falter. This left me feeling helpless; I think I could have handled it better if I had written it normally.

However, this also illustrates a point: I'm definitely not the kind of author who thrives on long hours. I could certainly write 8 or 1 words a day, but the resulting work would be far from satisfactory. Therefore, to ensure quality, I will limit myself to a maximum of one chapter per day, which is 6 words. Any more than that, and I simply can't handle it.

Actually, this volume is probably the one I've complained about the most, because my condition really wasn't good. I'm not making excuses, but it's definitely far from the quality of the previous volumes. Fortunately, it's almost finished. I hope to start the new month and the new volume in the best possible condition, and I hope this volume can produce something that will satisfy everyone.

Finally, let me reiterate my thoughts on Nightingale. Many people have reported that Nightingale has disappeared, but I truly cannot answer that. My initial assumption was that the little tagalong who always followed Lin Ye away, after saying goodbye to him in the cafeteria that night, would never return. Her departure would also contribute to Lin Ye's growth, his transformation from a boy to a man.

But under everyone's threats (written in blood), Liz returned, and Lin Ye lost his best opportunity for growth (mentally), making the subsequent plot difficult to handle. In fact, that small change affected the entire book's tone. I didn't intend for Lin Ye to grow up through hardship like Lin Ling (the protagonist of the previous book). I wanted the book to be light and enjoyable, a book without much depth, purely for relaxation and watching girls. Although I don't know what will happen later, that's how it is so far (Mephisto also died for this reason; he was supposed to survive to the end as the protagonist's antagonist, but I chose to respect the readers' wishes).

However, there might be some changes in the upcoming Mostima volume, and the feedback from these changes will affect when the book will ultimately end. Anyway, this month, this volume is coming to a close. It's already December, and I was born in December; I'll soon be another year older. I hope this book can grow along with me. Thank you all for your support.

Reward

I almost forgot about the bounty I promised everyone. Because we made it into the top ten at the last minute, I'm opening the bounty again. I've now made up for the nine chapters I owed. By the way, my daily update is 4,000 words, and 6,000 words counts as one chapter. That means three chapters of 2,000 words and two chapters of 3,000 words both count as one chapter.

Now let's talk about the bounty. This time, I'm only offering a reward of blades. Previously, it was 250 blades for one update, but now it's 233 blades for one update. There's no upper limit. The current number of blades is 18189. The bounty period will be half a month for now. That's all.

Chapter 399 Guigu Xuehui's Past (3K)

One clue after another came together, gradually revealing the truth.

The masked woman was none other than Guigu Xuehui, the girl the Lupo Mafia had been desperately searching for, and the initiator of "Halloween"—the "Ghost Seeker." The subsequent dream fragments gradually helped Lin Ye understand how this girl named Guigu Xuehui had endured all these years. The so-called "Halloween" wasn't a festival with any positive meaning; rather, it was Guigu Xuehui's way of seeking death. In the legends of the Eastern Lands, those cursed by nightmares would ultimately be devoured by the most ferocious and evil demon. Only by being devoured by the most ferocious and evil demon could the nightmare end; otherwise, even if the cursed person committed suicide, what awaited them wasn't hell, but an endless nightmare itself.

To Lin Ye, this was utterly absurd, a legend with zero credibility whatsoever; no one with an IQ above 20 should believe it. But Gui Gu Xue Hui believed it, because she was truly cursed. Every night she was awakened by nightmares, and every night she would sob and clutch her blankets, unable to fall asleep—a cycle she had endured since childhood.

Lin Ye was no stranger to this kind of torment, for he had inflicted it upon Mephistopheles under the guidance of the Messiah. He had created a nightmare exclusively for Mephistopheles, in which Lin Ye would appear in the nightmare, raising a rusty pair of scissors and slowly approaching him. Even a demon like Mephistopheles could only endure such a dream for less than a week before his psychological defenses nearly collapsed.

So much so that when she encountered Lin Ye in reality and recognized him as the person from her nightmares, even with all the advantages, she was still too afraid to make a move, and Lin Ye eventually seized the opportunity to turn the tables.

This shows how devastating an endless nightmare can be to a person's mental health. Mephistopheles was tormented for a week and was no longer recognizable as a human, while Guigu Xuehui was tormented by nightmares for over ten years. In Guigu Xuehui's dreams, Lin Ye saw her countless times being awakened from her sleep, her beautiful face covered in fear and cold sweat.

When she was young, her mother would rush into her room to hug her, comfort her, and cry with her whenever she had a nightmare. However, Lin Ye had a premonition that such companionship would not last long, and even a mother could not truly empathize with her daughter's torment of nightmares.

As expected, in the dream fragments following Guigu Xuehui, she had grown up. She no longer screamed in agony when she woke up from nightmares. In contrast, her mother no longer appeared in the dream fragments. Most of the time, she would sit alone by the window after waking up, looking at the moon. The moonlight shone on her face, and Lin Ye could see the tears silently streaming down her face.

At that moment, he felt a pang of heartache.

As Guigu Xuehui grew older, nearing adulthood, she had mastered almost all the skills of the Guigu family. Everyone revered her as a genius and called her the most outstanding young member of the Guigu family. It seemed that her future in the family was limitless. However, at this time, she proposed to leave the family and go to the West.

The scene that followed returned to the first scene in Guigu Xuehui's dream world when Lin Ye first entered it.

The room wasn't large, and outside the window, the rain pattered softly. Inside, two people sat facing each other. Lin Ye stood between them, looking down at the mother and daughter.